In first phase, 1,000 encroachments to go
Jyotika Sood
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 10
Under the first phase of demolition drive to be undertaken by the MC from Thursday, more than 1,000 encroachments, both permanent and temporary, would be removed.

These include encroachments in the form of footpaths, steps, sheds, tables and shutters. According to sources, the work of marking encroachments in D and B zones has been completed while A and C zones are yet to finish the tagging.

Since A and C zones have a majority of temporary encroachments, most of the building owners have started removing these on their own.

In D zone, six roads have been earmarked on which 295 constructions have been found to be either violating bylaws or covering a portion of the road. These roads are Ferozepur Road, Cemetry Road, Rani Jhansi Road, College Road, Ghumar Mandi Road and Mall Road. “All these roads are in posh areas and the elite are the encroachers here. We have decided to target them so that it sets an example for the others,” sources said.

In B zone, around 400 temporary and permanent encroachments have been identified. These include constructions on Samrala Chowk, Shingaar Cinema Road, Janakpuri Road and Link Road.

The process of marking encroachments is still under way in A zone and would be completed in a day or two. The targets here are Brown Road, Jail Road and Chaura Bazaar, with more than 300 temporary and permanent encroachments.

In C zone, a red cross is being put on encroachments by MC officials. The target area here is Gill Road, starting from Vishkarma Road until the MC limits.

The sources revealed that the zone for action was yet to be decided by the Municipal Commissioner, but is likely to begin from D zone.

After the anti-encroachment drives, regular patrolling would be undertaken to ensure that encroachers did not return. The anti-encroachment drives would be undertaken under the supervision of zonal commissioners by ATPs and tehbazari superintendents.

Ludhiana, November 10
With the MC taking a firm stand on the demolition drive, local politicians have started approaching town planning wing officials, requesting them to “exempt their supporters”.

Cutting across party lines, several councillors today visited the offices of Area Town Planners (ATPs), urging them to skip some shops in their wards. Some of them could be seen handing over slips mentioning the shop number and area.

With the Punjab and Haryana High Court fixing November 25 as deadline for removing encroachments from commercial areas, it would be an onerous task for the civic body.

Caught between political patronage and the High Court, MC officials said: “Commercial encroachments in the city are largely due to political backing and if we touch those, phone calls and verbal directions are issued from politicians and ministers. They are the ones who are behind the scene and stall demolition drives, but we have to face the fury of the court.”aSome ATPs stated: “Councillors and MLAs have now started giving a political colour to the demolition drive, saying that it would be a pick and choose policy. Congress councillors have already started alleging that their wards are being targeted, ignoring the fact that their areas are under the constituency of SAD and BJP MLAs.”

Ludhiana, November 10
The MLA, Harish Rai Dhanda, today visited some sites following the request of shopkeepers of Ferozepur Road and Ghumar Mandi.

Dhanda said he had visited Ghumar Mandi to take stock of the encroachments and see how action would help the area. “Since these people approached me, I have asked zonal commissioner PS Ghuman to have a meeting with them tomorrow and listen to their grievances. Since the action follows the order of the High Court, the zonal commissioner has been asked to make the shopkeepers understand the order,” he said.

Residents of the city had pleaded before the court that the MC had failed to remove encroachments from Ludhiana and had filed six contempt petitions in this regard. During the hearing, the court ordered the civic body to remove the encroachments from the commercial areas before November 25 and submit a report in this connection.

Due to permanent and temporary encroachments, roads have become narrow, causing frequent traffic jams.

Mandi Gobindgarh, November 10
Two migrant labourers working at a furnace unit situated on the Amloh road received serious burns here last evening. The injured were rushed to a private hospital at Khanna, where the condition of one of the labourers is stated to be serious.

The Fatehgarh Sahib SSP, Dr Kaustubh Sharma, said the labourers, Kailash Mohanto and Bablu Paswan, both residents of Jharkhand, had been working at the furnace unit for the past some time. They put scrap for boiling at high temperature and some material created a vacuum during burning and the victims came in contact with the hot water. They were taken to the hospital immediately.

A case in this connection has been registered at the Amloh police station and the police is investigating the matter.

A large number of such incidents have taken place in the past at various furnace units of Mandi Gobindgarh, but no concrete action has been initiated in this regard by officials concerned to curtail the recurrence of these incidents.

Ludhiana, November 10
Wedding invitations make a style statement and usually create the first impression of the event. The primary thing about a perfect wedding card is that it must stand out and grab the attention of people for its uniqueness. There is a wide array of traditional scroll cards, Asian handmade marriage invitations, designer scrolls, Hindu designer cards, Sikh handmade paper card and Christian invitations in the market.

While some prefer scrolls, the others go in for cards placed inside a box of sweets. “We’ve got the wedding cards of our son designed from Mumbai. It would be a beautiful box with satin ribbons and the card would be placed inside it. Delhi-made angoori barfi and other exotic sweets would be in the box,” Tarun Khosla, a businessman, said.

Indian wedding scrolls are also known as “farmaan” and lend a royal touch. “The traditional way of delivering the “farmaan” is catching up. Each scroll is intricately designed and rolled up,” a packer from the city stated.

Some cards are engraved in gold and silver on a silver base plate. Pictures of the bride and groom are also affixed on the card. The range of this card starts from Rs 15,000 and goes up to Rs 25,000.

Simple cards cost up to Rs 100 and designer cards Rs 2,000. Designer wooden boxes with intricate carvings are also in trend. Elegant wedding invitations use scroll motifs for the design and the classic script font for the names of the bride and the groom, besides other details.

Ludhiana, November 10
The arrest of the Director of Industries, VK Janjua, an IAS officer, in a graft case yesterday has created panic among babus of the city.

His arrest was discussed in official circles and a number of officials seemed in a hurry to leave their offices. Discomfort was writ large on the faces of many officials, who said they were shocked that an IAS officer was booked for taking bribe.

They said earlier it seemed to be an unwritten rule that no senior official was touched by the Vigilance in the state, but his arrest had conveyed a message that anybody could be nabbed.

The fact that the Vigilance Bureau had laid the trap following the complaint of a local industrialist compounded their fears. “Anybody can lay a trap under these circumstances. It is a shocking case,” said an official, requesting anonymity.

Several officials did not reach their offices till 12 noon today while many others left much before lunch. “Nobody wanted to be in the office. There was uneasiness and they thought it was safer to be away from office,” another official said, adding that they feared that it was easy to lay a trap.

“Many a time, people forcibly try to give us money for some work or the other. This is the trend in Ludhiana. If the notes are laced with chemical, anyone can be caught,” he claimed.

“I too have come across such people. On Diwali, they force us to accept gifts. Many of them come with packets of money. I know many officials who send back such people,” a senior official, who has been in the city for several years and has worked in various departments, said.

COMMUNITY

Diabetes mela on November 15
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, November 10
Diabetes, a very common problem and India, with approximately 45 million afflicted, the highest diabetic population in the world.

Besides, Indians are developing the condition at an early age with disastrous effects on the economy as well as a long-term impact on healthcare system.

In a bid to create awareness about diabetes, its management and risk factors, Ludhiana Mediciti, a local hospital, will organise a “diabetes mela” here on the World Diabetes Day on November 15.

Addressing a news conference here today, Dr Rakesh Goyal, endocrinologist at the hospital, said in addition to educating the people and creating awareness about the silent killer, diagnostic facilities and basic tests like blood sugar level, lipid profile, glycosylated heamoglobin, will also be carried out free of cost,

“The mela will have comprehensively compiled education materials for diabetic-dietary education, role of exercise and yoga, foot and eye care advice and useful tips from diabetes super specialists. The diabetic kids will get special attention at the camp and will also be provided one-month insulin supply free of cost. A drawing competition on the theme of healthy living will be an added attraction for the children,” Dr Goyal added.

He said that over a period of time, diabetes could lead to various complications like blindness, kidney failure, limb amputation and heart attack, and there was a correlation of duration of diabetes with these complications. Since Indians are becoming diabetic at a younger age, they had more chances of diabetes-related body organ problems in middle age, which was a matter of concern, he said.

Emphasising on the need for prevention against diabetes and its related problems, Dr Goyal said that it was important to learn about the disease along with its management and treatment to mentioned targets, and only then a diabetic could lead a healthy life. To achieve this aim, it was important to educate masses and provide them with adequate information so that they could understand diabetes better and thus manage the disease better.

In a word of caution, he said due to prosperity, people of Punjab were adopting a lazy lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits which often led to increased prevalence of diabetes. “People ought to adopt a healthy lifestyle, improve their eating habits and switch over to a regimen of exercise to ward off the diabetes and other lifestyle-related diseases,” he said.

Ludhiana, November 10
Railway station in the mega city will soon have more facilities and amenities if the ongoing projects taken up by the Ferozepur division of the Northern Railway are any indication.

Each platform at the railway station will have a washing apron, more running rooms, improved sheds on platforms, a modern food plaza, more ticketing centres in different parts of the city, a wider foot overbridge (FOB) and a second terminal at Dhandari to cut down congestion at the railway station.

Providing an insight to several ongoing development works at the city railway station, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Ferozepur division, Satish Kumar told Ludhiana Tribune here today that new washing aprons for cleaning up the railway bogies were already functional at platform numbers one and five while work was on for the same on platform numbers two, three and four. More running rooms on the railway station are also under construction and will become functional in the near future, he said.

He said it was proposed to replace non-standard sheds on platform number two and three with shed of standard design, which will provide more moving area and reduce congestion on these platforms.

“A modern food plaza is fast coming up near the main entrance of the railway station. The construction of the building is in progress and the Indian Rail Catering and Tourism Corporation has already floated tenders to lease out the outlet which will provide hygienically prepared fast food and snacks to the passengers at affordable prices.”

The DRM said that towards its continuing efforts to improve services to the railway passengers, the railways will establish 11 new “jansadharan ticket booking” centres at different locations in the city by the end of this financial year which will enable passengers purchase general unreserved tickets from outside and help reduce the rush at railway booking windows at peak time.

Among other facilities to be provided at the railway station were a 20-feet-wide FOB for exit towards Civil Lines in place of the existing eight-feet-wide bridge and a second terminal for the city at Dhandari railway station. These facilities will become functional when the fabrication of FOB in railway workshop at Jalandhar was completed and an FOB was constructed at Dhandari railway station where a high level platform had already been provided.

"Once the required infrastructure is available at Dhandari, all trains leaving for and coming from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar side will be provided a halt to enable the migrant population board and alight from these trains, which will cut down congestion at the city railway station to a great extent," Kumar stated.

Ludhiana, November 10
With the much-awaited elections of the PAU Employees Union just a week away, groups are busy wooing voters and levelling allegations against each other. Rallies and tea time have become order of the day at the university these days.

The union elections are held on the PAU campus after two years.

Former union leader of the PAU Employees' Forum DP Maur said, “Present executive Harbans Singh Mundi has failed to fulfill his promises and employees have lost their trust reposed in him.”

Paramjit Singh Gill, who is contesting for the post of president, said stenographers and field staff were not getting increments and the executive did not pay heed to their plea.

The PAU Employees Federation and PAU Progressive Front represented by Harbans Singh Mundi and Avinash Sharma are sure of their victory.

Harbans Singh Mundi, contesting for the post of president, said a huge turnout was witnessed during their rallies.

“During our tenure more than 950 vacant posts have been filled. How can the rival group claim that we have not done anything for employees? The union with around 70 members led by Paramjit Singh has whole-heartedly come to our support. It means employees are satisfied with our work,” claimed Mundi.

While the third major group led by Jaswant Jirath and Kanwal Kishan Sachdeva, PAU Employees Democratic Manch and PAU Employees Welfare Front, claim that employees felt that there should be a change for their welfare.

"We have been personally meeting and listening to the grievances of employees. Resentment prevails among them with regard to non-implementation of several pending demands. The present executive, instead of watching the interests of employees, preferred to come close to politicians and officials. Employees have suffered in this politics. The verdict will come out on November 19,” said Jirath.

Doraha, November 10
A two-day annual cultural competition “ROSHNI-2009”was inaugurated at the Doraha Institute of Management and Technology today.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Technical Education and Industrial Training, Bikramjit Singh Khalsa was the chief guest. The programme began with the recitation of a ‘shabad’ by students of Shri Guru Harkrishan Public School,
Doraha.

A total of 250 participants of 25 schools, are participating in different events, including quiz,
rangoli, poster making, bindas bol, folk song, dance to the tune, creative writing and
mehndi.

The Inter-Zonal Youth Festival will be held on November 11, 12 and 13.

Brainstorming session

A brainstorming session was organised at Spring Dale Senior Secondary Public School. The event was organised for students from classes IV to VI.

Four teams namely bambi, mowgli, noddy and shrek were formed. The session included three question-answer rounds punctuated with stress buster activities. Noddy team stole the show by bagging the first prize, while bambi team was declared first runners-up. Team shrek and mowgli shared the third position.

Singing contest

Students of Ram Lal Bhasin Public School, Phase I, Dugri, participated in the singing competition with great fervour. They left audience spellbound with their performance.

The purpose of the competition was to develop confidence in students and explore their talent.

Ludhiana, November 10
Dr Namita Mitra, a research fellow in the department of veterinary microbiology, College of Veterinary Science, GADVASU, has been awarded the coveted “Avitech Young Scientist Award” for best research paper presented at the national symposium and the 26th Annual Conference of the Indian Poultry Science Association (IPSACON-2009) held in Mumbai recently.

The award carries a cash prize and a citation. Dr Mitra presented a research paper titled “Multiple infections caused by avian
oncogenic viruses in poultry: A molecular analysis of naturally occurring cases".

The award-winning work was a part of her MVSc research carried out under the supervision of Prof Ramneek Verma.

The Indian Poultry Science Association (IPSA) is the apex body in the country to provide necessary research and development support in all the disciplines of poultry science for promoting productivity and profitability of the Indian poultry industry. The IPSA has around 1,000 members, including scientists, technocrats, industrialists, farmers and entrepreneurs involved in various aspects of poultry research, production and business.

Raikot, November 10
The sarpanch of the nearby Rajowana Khurd village has been suspended on the charges of being involved in a fraud case for which the Jagraon court had convicted him for two years rigorous imprisonment in 2004.

The District and Sessions Court also upheld the conviction by dismissing the appeal petition in 2008. Sarpanch Raghubir Singh was accused of selling somebody's land on the basis of forged power of attorney.

A complaint in this regard was submitted to the director, Rural Development and Panchayat Department, by Najar Singh of the same village on March 2 this year.

Najar Singh went missing on August 1 this year when he went for the hearing on his complaint to
Jagraon. His family suspected sarpanch Raghubir Singh and his eight accomplices behind Najar’s disappearance. An application for narco test of all the nine accused is already pending in a court.

The director, of Rural Development and Panchayat Department, has vide memo No. 6/54/08-Ludhiana/S 21898/900, dated August 25, 2009, but issued on October 6, 2009, has suspended Sukhdev Singh under Section 20(4) of Punjab Panchayati Raj Act 1994.

Ludhiana, November 10
State minister for jails, cultural affairs and tourism Hira Singh Gabria today assured residents of Shaheed Bhagat Singh
Nagar, a residential colony of Ludhiana Improvement Trust, that their demand for a senior citizen home-cum-community centre on a piece of land earmarked for a primary school would be taken up with the government.

Residents, led by BJP leader Pran Bhatia and social activist Arvind Sharma, told the minister that the land was proposed to be pledged with the Housing and Urban Development Corporation against a loan to be taken by the MC for development.

“Since no primary school has so far been proposed to be set up at the site, the land should be allotted for community purpose,” they stated. They also asked the minister to take up the construction of a flyover at the Pakhowal road crossing due to frequent traffic jams since a large number of marriage palaces were located on the
road.

Gabria was also apprised of poor sanitation arrangements in the locality and while taking a round of the area, he saw heaps of garbage lying all around.

Ludhiana, November 10
The district health administration today organised a seminar on female foeticide on the campus of the Malwa Central College of Education for Women. Local medical officers and school students were present on the occasion.

Dr Maninderjit Singh, Civil Surgeon, stressed the need for equal status to women in the society. He said it was high time to wipe out the blot of female foeticide from the society.

Harjinder Singh, a retired mass media officer, traced the historical approach towards the change in the status of women. Various speakers highlighted the misuse of ultrasound machines, which were developed to diagnosis the problem and are now being used to determine the sex of the child.

Ludhiana, November 10
An anthology of short stories in Hindi for children - Chamatkar - authored by Dr Faqir Chand
Shukla, a retired Professor of food technology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, has been selected for the Children Literature Award of the Languages Department of Punjab for 2008.

Dr Upinderjit Kaur, Education Minister, Punjab, will present the award at a special function at Bhasha
Bhawan, Patiala, on November 14.

The book, adjured the best literary work for children, has interesting short stories meant particularly for the adolescents. These stories attempt to inculcate scientific temper in youth by dispelling superstitious beliefs and misconceptions, and also show to a young scholar that the real amulet to success is hard
labour.

Dr Shukla is a renowned scientist and a Shiromani Sahityakar
awardee. He has authored 37 books on health, short stories, plays and children literature. He has already received nine National Awards, a Millennium Award, Punjab Rattan Award and 15 awards of different states.

Ludhiana, November 10
Members of the Municipal Karamchari Dal today staged a dharna in front of the A-zone office of the MC in support of their demands and submitted a reminder of their demands to Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura.

They were protesting against the failure of the Municipal Corporation to regularise employees of the Mohalla Sanitation Committees, while the project has been already undertaken by the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation.

The protesters said they just had six demands and the local bodies department had already accepted some of them, but the MC had failed to implement the same till date.

“It has been more than one year when Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia directed the civic bodies to regularise the MSC workers, but we have failed to find any such proposal taking place with the civic body in the city," added the organisation chairman, Ashwani Sahota.

Ludhiana, November 10
Punjab College of Technical Education, Ludhiana, has been given "B-school that encourages leadership as part of curriculum" award by 17th Dewang Mehta B-School Excellence Award in association with B-school affair held in Mumbai on November 5. The award was in recognition of leadership, development, innovation and industry interface of business school. The award was given by Harish Mehta, chairman and MD, Onward Technologies.

The award is dedicated to late Dewang Mehta-pioneer in bringing IT revolution in India. Dr Kang, director-general of the college, said the jury members comprised professionals from several industries like the HDFC, Axis, Cognisant, Tata Consultancy, Yes Bank, Oracle Financial Services, Religare Securities, Sterlite Industries and Sony.
— TNS

Mandi Ahmedgarh, November 10
Students of Bhutta College of Engineering and Technology, Bhutta, have claimed top positions in the Inter-College Cycling Competition, which was organised by Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar, recently.

Mullanpur Dakha, November 10
In an effort to improve infrastructure in rural areas, Ludhiana Zila Parishad chairman Manpreet Singh
Ayali gave away cheques for over Rs 50 lakh to various villages as grants for development.

The grant is to be used for constructing toilets in houses and construction of road and sewerage lines.

The minimum grant of Rs 21,000 was given to Chokar village where
as Jassowal village got a grant of Rs 2.84 lakh.

Ludhiana, November 10
The Indian Society for Technical Education organised an annual convention-cum-national techno-cultural symposium “MINERVA-2009”. Various engineering colleges of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, J&K and Chandigarh participated in the event.

Guru Nanak Dev Polytechnic College won the overall best performance polytechnic college award. Students of the college won the first prize in paper presentation and networking, second prize in debate and third prize in project display.

The college has bagged the first prize in tech-fest organised by the Punjab State Board of Technical Education and Industrial Training.

Raikot: The local Sadbhavna Society has decided to open a charitable cancer hospital at the Barnala Road near Jalaldiwal. Initially, its going to be 20-bedded super-specialty hospital.
— OC

CRIME

735-gm brown sugar seized; 1 held
Our Correspondent

Jagraon, November 10
The CIA staff has arrested a man with brown sugar worth Rs 75 lakh in the international market.
Addressing a press conference, SSP, Ludhiana (Rural), Harinder Singh Chahal said that following a tip-off, the police laid a ‘naka’ on the national highway near Aligarh village and intercepted the accused, identified as Jasbir Singh alias Jassi, a resident of Dhaknasu village near Rajpura of Patiala district.

He was coming toward Jagraon on motorcycle (PB-23-C-8106). During checking the police recovered the 735 gm of brown sugar from his possession, which was to be supplied in Jagraon and Raikot.

The contraband packets had markings of Kabul 999K, indicating that the brown sugar was processed in Afghanistan and then smuggled into India.

The police has also confiscated the mobile phone of the accused.

SPORTS

Weightlifting

Ferozepur division win overall title
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, November 10
Ferozepur division won the overall title with 610 points at the 56th Northern Railway Inter-division Weightlifting Championship, which concluded here today. They were followed by Jagadhari Workshop with 530 points and Ambala division with 513 points. Divisional Railway Manager of Ferozepur division Satish Kumar inaugurated the meet and also presided over the concluding ceremony.

Ludhiana, November 10
Hosts Bharatiya Vidya Mandir (BVM) won the lung opener in the inter-school football tournament defeating the GRD Academy with a convincing 3-0 margin.

The BVM lads took the lead with a goal scored by Prabhat Singh followed by another goal by Anuj Dhingra. The fate of the GRD was sealed with yet another goal by Vishal Bector.

In the match that followed, Sacred Heart Convent School, BRS Nagar, scored an easy 3-1 victory against GMT School. In a completely one-sided match, GGN Public School trounced Kundan Vidya Mandir 3-0, giving no opportunity to their opponents to come anywhere near their goal post.

In another encounter, Ryan International School edged past Greenland School 1-0.

Ludhiana, November 10
The third All-India Wuko and Full Contact Karate-Do Championship concluded at Sarvodaya International School, Khanpur, Malerkotla. The championship was held on November 7 and 8. Karate teams from various parts of the country participated in the meet. Green Land Convent School bagged the overall trophy. Green Land players finished with a tally of 10 gold, eight silver and five bronze medals.